It was there, watching, waiting. Waiting in the darking, twisted and... Hungry...
I could feel its desire, tearing holes into my being.
Suddenly, as if a sign was given, it started rushing closer, hunger growing as every second past. My desperation grew, silent screams of terror escaping my mouth as I tryed frantically to move, to run as far as possible, to get away from the Monster.
It suddenly lunged, its hungry killing intent overflowing. I tryed to move again in desperation, in vain. It was mere inches away, its huge pitch black fangs about to tear into my warm flesh- I woke screaming, panicking as the leftover adrenaline ran its course through my veins. I sat up slowly, breathing heavily and cursing under my breath as I glanced around the cramped gloomy and dark apartment, nearly void of personal items besides a pc on a desk with a box on it in one corner and a pile of dirty clothes in the other.
Thoughts about the interview today breached my sleep clouded mind, dredging back memories of the recent firing, also bringing back my headache.
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"Your fired," my boss said tiredly, eyeing me with clear annoyance as she drank a cup of coffee fresh from the breakroom. I stared back, frozen even as I knew I should have anticipated this long ago, with how much I stayed up playing [Fallen Realms] recently and repeatedly coming in late and frequently falling asleep on the job. Frankly it was even more shocking that I hadn't been fired weeks ago.
"..." I had nothing in response, exhaustion and fading shock giving away to emptiness.
"So pack your shit and get out. Now, preferably." She dismissively glanced towards her laptop, no longer willing to wait for a response.
Clenching my hands as a spark of self hatred and anger grew, I silently got up as I hid my feelings behind a blank facade and walked to the door. As I reached the door and gripped the handle, she spoke up again.
"If its any consolation you'll be receiving your final check soon, this weekend to be exact." She didn't look up from her laptop as she mentioned this, continuing to drink from her mug.
Silently acknowledging this I nodded and slipped out, and letting the door swing shut behind me, went over to my desk, and after taking a quick inventory of my stuff, grabbed a spare cardboard box from the ground and started packing my things. As I went to grab one of the final items a cheery mans voice popped up from behind me.
"Hey man, did you hear about the new hire? Apparently he's going to be joining your department so you finally don't have to do everything alone-" He stopped, smile fading, taking in my situation.
Frowning, he helped me finish up quickly and quietly and patted me on the back. "well?" He asked bluntly, with furrowed burrows.
"What do you think? Fired." I said with a weary smile.
"If you want I could try talking with her, she might listen-" he began with a worried glance, likely thinking about the fact I can never keep a job for long.
Shaking my head and responding with a chuckle, "It's all good man, I appreciate the thought but it wont change anything."
"Well if you ever need help im here for you, alright?" He said, looking unsure. Nodding in understanding, I hefted the box up and walked out of the building.
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I arrived at my apartment after trudging all the way back, the box making the trip much worse then normal. Walking up the steps I noticed my neighbor Ms. Perkens, an older lady who lived here with her husband until he died of lung cancer, struggling to get her door open while holding a bunch of groceries.
"Wait up Miss Perkens, let me help." I said as I put down my box, quickly relieving her of the heavy burden weighing her down.
"Thank you dearie," she replied, with a grateful smile covering her wrinkled face, her baby blue eyes crinkled and twinkling.
"Would you be a dear and put that on the counter, dearie?" She asked as she let me in, and walked over to the stove, putting the kettle on.
Laying her groceries down on her counter I stretched my back, and glanced around her home. She had little, but it was nowhere as barebones as mine. She had quite a few pictures of her grandkids with their parents hanging on the flowery walls, along with herbs near the window and a few comfy looking chairs that were sitting around a table.
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"Sit, sit! The least I could do to thank you is making you some tea, dearie." She said as she smiled warmly at me, readying the tea.
I was about to politely refuse, but upon remembering I had almost no reason not too, I agreed.
Bringing over some hot tea, she gave me a tea cup and sat down on the other side of the flowerly cloth on the table. Deeply inhaling the herby scent, I sipped the tea quietly as calm filled me, relaxing my mind.
"Relaxing, Isn't it?" She asked calmly, drinking her tea as she looked at the pictures of her family.
Nodding, I finished my tea. "Thank you for the tea Ms Perkens." I said with a appreciative smile, the stress that had been hanging over me having faded somewhat.
"Anytime dearie," she replyed with a bright sincere smile.
Getting up I put her tea cup down and walked out of her apartment, grabbed my box, and went into my apartment.
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It was 4 O'clock in the morning, and I was sitting in the dark, only lit up by the blue light radiating off my computer. I was currently playing [Fallen Realms], a hellishly hard game that seemed impossible to beat no matter how cautious I was or how hard I tryed.
It gave you a selection of 9 hero you could play as, and after you've made your choice it throws you into their shoes, limited by their personality. Say you tryed to do something against their very core, the character would end up at least stressed, at most they could kill them self's or do a complete 180 personality wise.
They were in world filled to the brim with monsters, beast and human alike. I've had to restart completely several dozen times because of mistakes alone, ignoring the couple hundred times I had already played and ending up died or having to -Restart- because I had been cripped permanently in some way, for example, like a mistake in difficulty in a request leading to death or severe injury, or accidently coming across a herd that either ripped me to shreds or left my body broken from excaping. Or just randomly getting ambushed by bandits or assassins. Or possibly a high level monster.
My latest death had came from killing a sadist prince that slaughtered innocents using his power of [Domain Of Pain] to drive them to commit suicide, leading to me to being hunted down by several power houses leading to my eventual demise.
Thing is, I hadn't known he was a prince until it was far, far too late.
Cursing under my breath I got up to go to bed, but suddenly I heard my phone -Ding!-. Squinting, I grabbed my phone in the dark, looking at the message. (Hey man if your looking for a job, I managed to get you a interview with someone I know that is in a management position. The Gamer Corporation, believe it or not.)
I stood there silently for a bit, in shock. Then, grinning, I typed (Thank you mark, I won't forget this).
Dropping myself onto my bed, I drifted of quickly.
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I sighed as I slid out from under the covers, and while rubbing my head, headed to the bathroom after checking the clock at my bedside table, -6:30-, brushing past the ajar door and turning the light on. I turned on the faucet, cupping my hands under the cold flow as i splashed my face. I looked up, gripping the edges of the sink as I took in the tired man before me, green eyes staring back at me with exhaustion.
Rubbing my face I walked out of the bathroom, turning the light off on the way and walked to the pile of clothes and grabbing something not too bad I quickly dressed and left my apartment for the interview. After I locked the door and almost stumbled down the stairs I walked out and down the snowy road, calmed as the frigid air slipped through the gaps of my clothes and cleared my mind.
"A new beginning... I suppose?" I mused under my breath, and laughing out loud at the thought,"Maybe in a different world," I said shaking my head while chuckling and- suddenly I was struck from behind and crumpled into the snow.
Confused and stunned I tryed to get back up only to feel cold and heavy metal smash into the back of my head again. And again. I heard nothing but crazed laughter and cold wind rushing past my ears as I watched my brain matter spatter on the snow, along with bloody bone shards as my head was repeatedly bashed and my sight fading to black with one final thought going through my head... [I didn't beat [Fallen Realms], damn it!]... before that faded as well as everything else.
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Something stirred me awake in a cold darkness. As I came too tiredly, I felt the chilly air brush against my naked body, jerking me awake as my hazy mind was somewhat cleared away by the frosty chill. Looking around I noticed several, very obvious things. First, I was nude. Obviously. And also, I seemed to be in a... Voidish area of some sorts?
And the ground seemed to be made of a dark, glistening material, looking like pure liquid darkness soldified into a endless plane of ground.
As I tryed to get up off a obsidian-ish ground clumsily, I ended up immediately falling down, a strong feeling of weakness nearly making me face plant.
"Damn it!- wait, what is that? " I muttered in shock as a red screen appeared in front of me, seemingly floating in mid air, shoving its self right in my face. My confusion at the situation only grew as I read the screen.
[ System activating... 1%...17%...26%...41%...58%...69%...%92%...100% Completed!
Welcome to the [Extreme Survival System] Host, made to keep you alive even in the most dire of circumstances!
As a Starters gift, you will receive a [Starters Gift Of 3 needed Skills/Traits/Talents], tailored to your current needs!
[Gift Received]
[Opening Is locked temporarily]
Have a good long lif-
-Error-
Host seems to have already died.
-Looking for alternative route...-
-Route found!-
[welcome to your new life Host!]
-Warning-
-Beware of extreme agony-]
"Wait slow down, what do you mean new- Extreme agony!?-" suddenly the obsidian-ish ground cracked, sending me screaming into the abyss.
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Pain.
Pain was all I could feel, blinding me of all my senses and trapping me in it. I tryed to scream, to even make a noise, trying to release even a bit of sea of agony I felt. In vain.
It never went away, keeping me from even being able to form enough thoughts to figure out what was happening. The pain came from deep down inside my being, almost like it was my soul being melted in a hellish blaze and slowly being forged into something else, something... Superior.
I felt a faint feeling of my soul strengthen in sync with the pain, but eventually the agony drove away the rest of my thoughts until only pain remained. Every second felt like a internity, the pain infinitely growing stronger and also never fading, feeling almost never-ending.
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Eventually, perhaps hours or even days later, the pain suddenly stopped. With no prior change in level at all, just... Stopped. Unresponsive, I just laid there unmoving. Echos of the torment filling up my head, gradually fading away till all I was left with was a blank, broken calm. And then... I drifted off to a dreamless sleep.